Curse of the Crimson Throne

ADVENTUREBACKGROUND

The city of Korvosa began 300 years ago, in 4407 ar, when the Empire of Cheliax expanded north into Varisia. Here, the Chelaxians found a large tribe of Shoanti barbarians
dwelling around an immense pyramid on the shores of a deep bay—a perfect site for a city. Much bloodshed eventually left the Shoanti defeated, driven back to the harsh Cinderlands,
and the city that grew on the site was named after the field marshal who led his army to victory there. Yet even as Korvosa flourished and grew, surviving even the collapse
of the Chelish empire, few bothered to ask why the Shoanti had dwelt here. None of Korvosa’s citizens, from beggar to king, realized that the Shoanti were guardians, that deep
inside the pyramid destined to become Castle Korvosa hid a great and terrible evil: the Fangs of Kazavon, relics of one of Golarion’s most powerful and deadly dragons. For the
past 300 years, Korvosa has grown, unaware that the city’s foundation rests on a history of evil and cruelty. Today, Korvosa’s reigning King Eodred Arabasti II is feared by all the right people. His rule is steady, even if his insatiate appetites drain the city’s coffers. His ability to
navigate the rocks and shoals of Chelish diplomacy earned the city favorable trade agreements with the Old Empire, but rumors persisted of the king’s womanizing habits and
his spendthrift ways. Despite his fondness for a soft touch, he has to date produced no heir to the throne, the latest in a line of rulers affected by the Curse of the Crimson Throne.
Edicts proclaim Eodred II the Saffron King, likening his reign to one of abundance, in which honey and spice flood the markets. The city’s downtrodden have another name for
Eodred, though—the Stirge King, a man whose squandering ways are slowly bleeding his city dry. Whispers of Eodred II’s taste for scandalously young companionship have dogged the king throughout his rule, and thus when he finally wed, it was no surprise
that his bride was barely a third of his age. Queen Ileosa was a woman of breathtaking beauty, with red hair like the sunset, chaste alabaster skin, and features so fetching
many claimed her mother must have been a nymph queen, as surely no mortal woman could give birth to a beauty such as she. Most of Korvosa’s nobles worry of
the dangers of placing a trophy wife within hands’ reach of the Crimson Throne, but Ileosa’s interest in the city seemed secondary to the life of luxury—and with the
more-than-competent Seneschal Neolandus Kalepopolis guarding Castle Korvosa’s interests, these noble families feel they have little to worry about.
They are about to learn how wrong they are.